Board of Directors

Tom Murphy, Treasurer
First term, expires October 2025
Email Tom: treasurer@clearwater.org

Tom Murphy is a Hudson Valley native – he grew up in Newburgh, attended Newburgh schools and Orange County Community College. He has been a banker since the early 1980s when he got his start at a small bank in Newburgh. He is currently a Senior Vice President at M&T Bank, running their Government Banking Division here in the Hudson Valley and Long Island. Tom serves on M&T Bank’s local Charitable Foundation Board, providing funding to over 100 non-profit organizations in Dutchess, Ulster, Sullivan, and Orange counties. He is currently on the Board of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley and Chair of their Ulster Board and previously served on the boards of the Bardavon Opera House, Mohonk Preserve, and many other community organizations. While on the Mohonk Preserve Board, Tom was Treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee for many years and also spent time on their Environmental Education and Finance and Development Committees. Tom lives in Kingston, NY with his wife Ellen, their two college-age boys, two dogs, two cats, and five chickens. He is an avid reader, skier, hiker and fisherman.

Rosemary Thomas, Secretary
Second term, Expires October 2026
Email Rosemary: secretary@clearwater.org

Rosemary is a long-time Clearwater member and a resident of the Hudson Valley for over 40 years. She strongly believes in the Clearwater mission to educate the next generation of environmental leaders and stewards of the Hudson. A Sloop Woody Guthrie sailor and a former President of the Beacon Sloop Club, Rosemary is an active member of the extended Clearwater community. She is currently the Sloop Club’s vendor coordinator and co-coordinator of the riverfront festivals. She is dedicated to improving the health of the Hudson River and its watershed through education and community involvement. Rosemary is a retired metallurgical engineer and a certified project manager with experience in managing international client relationships. She believes strongly in citizen participation and has recently completed 8 years on the Dutchess County Mental Hygiene Board.

Joan Gaylord
Third term, expires October 2026
Ambassador Program Fundraising Page

Joan Gaylord currently serves on Clearwater’s Executive Committee and Chairs its Communications Committee. A correspondent for “The Christian Science Monitor,” she previously headed press relations at Pace Law School, the country’s leading environmental law program. A photographer and graphic designer, as well, Joan has had credits in “The Wall Street Journal” and the “CS Monitor” and served as calligrapher for the United Nations. She is an Associate Fellow at Yale University where she is the advisor to the Undergraduate Jazz Collective.

Neil Gordon
Third term, expires October 2025

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Neil is starting his third three-year term on Clearwater’s board. He has also served for the last five years as Clearwater’s treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee. Neil is a longtime onboard Clearwater volunteer and has great passion and regard for the Sloop and its crew. Neil is politically active in local government and has served on a number of not-for-profit boards, including the Andover (MA) Historical Society, where he also served as Treasurer. Neil was raised in the Bronx and Yonkers and currently lives in Brookline, MA. His mother, children, and grandchildren live in New York City.

Steve Stanne
Second term, expires October 2026

Steve Stanne has been teaching about the Hudson since 1980 when he stepped aboard Clearwater as education director, a position he held for 19 years. His time with the organization also included two stints as acting executive director. From 1999 until retirement in 2017 he was employed by Cornell University in partnership with NYSDEC to direct education efforts of the agency’s Hudson River Estuary Program.

Over his career Steve designed signature river education programs including Clearwater’s Classroom of the Waves and the Estuary Program’s Day in the Life of the Hudson, as well as coordinating placement of the familiar blue and white sturgeon signs at highway crossings of Hudson River tributaries. He is the principal author of The Hudson: An Illustrated Guide to the Living River, published by the Rutgers University Press, and the Estuary Program’s State of the Hudson reports in 2009 and 2015.

Steve is also a musician, performing with the Hudson River Sloop Singers while at Clearwater, and with the folk quintet Betty and the Baby Boomers, which earned the Hudson River Environmental Society’s 2016 “Outstanding Environmental Communicator” award.

Adenike Bamgboye
First Term, expires October 2026

A seasoned administrator and expert in public procurement, small business, and vendor management, as well as process reengineering. In her career of over 20 years, Adenike has served in various capacities for over a decade at the City of New York, including contracting, environmental health and safety, and quality assurance. She pioneered a number of initiatives for small business contracting opportunities, not limited to MWBE participation and outreach. Adenike is passionate about environmental conservation through policy making. In one of her past projects, she unraveled the impact of single-use plastic carry-out bags on environmental footprints, as a contribution to a NYC legislation for its ban. Adenike developed health and safety programs for four bureaus at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. She currently lives in Elmont, and consults for the NYC DOE and serves as Assistant Deputy Comptroller for Nassau County.

Peter Capek
Third term, expires October 2026
Ambassador Program Fundraising Page

Peter has been concerned with environmental issues for most of his life but has taken a more active role since his retirement from IBM Research.  The increasing awareness and seriousness of the climate change issue has led him to increase his involvement with Clearwater with the goal of increasing public awareness and response to the crisis.

He has been active as a volunteer at Revival for more than 35 years, where he has managed (jointly with his wife) the T-shirt sales, a substantial fund-raiser for the event,  and been active on the Revival Planning Committee.  Peter first met Pete Seeger at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival and has admired Pete’s music and life accomplishments for many years.

Peter’s work experience involved research in Computer Science.  He has experience serving on a public library board for 14 years, including several as its President, and on a local tax assessment review board.

Josh Clyburn
First Term, expires October 2026

As an accomplished utility professional, Josh brings extensive expertise in digital transformation, product development, and data analytics. He found his love of the sea and naval engineering during his eight-year enlistment in the U.S. Navy, while a part of the Nuclear Program. During his time at NYSERDA, he successfully designed, launched, and managed the $75M Real-Time Energy Management program. As Manager at the New York Power Authority, he orchestrated energy solution projects and strategic marketing initiatives in clean energy technologies. His educational portfolio includes an MBA in Finance, an MS in Information Systems, an MS in Environmental Management, and a BS in Nuclear Engineering. Josh served as a voluntary crew on the Clearwater Sloop and was quickly reminded of his love of the water, and passion for environmental education through community engagement. Josh lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wonderful wife of 10 years and two fantastic kids.

Dr. Stuart Findlay
First Term, expires October 2027

Dr. Stuart Findlay has worked on the Hudson River for over 30 years, researching sensitive wetlands, shoreline restoration, and conducting environmental monitoring critical to helping guide the river’s recovery. He aims to identify impending problems and devise suitable solutions in streams, wetlands, and the Hudson River, and is committed to carrying science from discovery to dissemination and is actively engaged with a wide array of management, outreach, and educational programs.

Peter Gregory
First Term, expires October 2027

Peter is a financial advisor at RBC Wealth Management in Albany and Saratoga, NY, where he has worked since 2007. Peter leads a team of financial Advisors who provide comprehensive management services to families, business owners, professionals, and non-profit organizations. Peter is currently a board member and the Treasurer of the SUNY Schenectady Foundation and was previously a board member of The Estate Planning Council of Eastern NY, Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Capital Region, Better Neighborhoods, Inc., and the Sunnyview Hospital Foundation. He was also President of the Sunnyview Hospital Foundation board for four years. He is a native of Schenectady, and for the past 25 years has lived in Halfmoon, NY, with his wife Kimberly, and two children.

Aaron Mair
Third term, expires October 2026

Aaron Mair of Schenectady, New York, is an epidemiological-spatial analyst with the New York State Department of Health and is President of the Sierra Club’s Board of Directors. Aaron’s experience includes more than three decades of environmental activism and over 25 years as a Sierra Club volunteer leader, where he has worked diligently for environmental justice.

Jennifer McMillan
Second term, expires October 2027

Jennifer is a lifelong, passionate advocate for environmental issues, and has lived in Wappingers Falls for 20 years. She is an adjunct professor at Marist College and Dutchess Community College, works as a freelance editor including for Clearwater, has volunteered in the Clearwater office, and with her two children, and volunteers at Revivals and other Clearwater events. She is an artist and herbalist, teaches herbalism, art classes, meditation, Reiki, and has led meditation classes and held Reiki sessions for Clearwater employees. As a current board member with East Fishkill Historical Society, she helps organize events and fundraisers, and holds classes specifically directed towards public education and as fundraisers for the organization.

Liam Purvis
First term, expires October 2027

Liam is a lifelong resident and recreator in the Hudson Valley. He has fond memories of learning about river life aboard the Clearwater as a child and performed at the Clearwater festival multiple times with the Vanaver Caravan Dance Company. Liam has over a decade of professional experience teaching outdoor education and facilitating experiences that connect individuals with the environment immediately around them: including stints at The Riekes Center, Wild Earth, and Vermont Wilderness School. Liam is an avid whitewater kayaker who loves fishing in the Hudson. This passion for clean water has inspired him to volunteer with Riverkeeper’s water sampling program for the last 4 years.

Jeremy Rainer
Third term, expires October 2026
Ambassador Program Fundraising Page

Jeremy Rainer is a sound engineer and producer at WFUV FM in New York. His family fostered in him a deep love and respect for Pete Seeger and the principles he stood for. He’s been going to the Revival all his life, and has been a Festival volunteer for twenty years. When he was seventeen years old, Jeremy invited Pete to his high school to play a concert, and since that time he saw Pete whenever and wherever he performed.

In his work at WFUV, Jeremy produces “Woody’s Children” with Bob Sherman, and once was able to set up an interview with Pete for a birthday special. In addition to maintaining a relationship with Pete himself, Jeremy has fostered friendships with many of Pete’s own friends and fellow Clearwater artists, including David Amram, Tom Chapin, and Noel Paul Stookey.

When Toshi Seeger passed away in 2013, Jeremy was honored to mix sound for her memorial concert in NYC. Performers not only included Pete, but also Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Guy Davis, Fred Hellerman, and Peter Yarrow.

After Pete himself passed in 2014, Jeremy co-produced “Seeger Fest,” a five-day festival in memory of Pete and Toshi. Jeremy was technical manager for the festival, which encompassed making stage plots for numerous artists, formulating soundcheck and run-of-show schedules, and stage-managing the five concerts.

Jeremy’s commitment and devotion both to Pete’s legacy and to Clearwater runs deep and wide, and he has enjoyed bringing that passion to the Clearwater board of directors.

Daniel Riesel
Second term, expires October 2027

Daniel Riesel was raised in Croton on Hudson, but presently resides in Manhattan and Arlington, Vermont. His love of the outdoors and the Hudson Valley led him to be a Clearwater Board member for over a decade during the 70s and 80s–and also served on the boat crew. Daniel has been practicing law for 60 years, and since 1970, his practice has focused on environmental litigation. He is a founder of the first Environmental Protection Unit in the Department of Justice. During the period 1970 to 1973, the Unit successfully prosecuted over 30 Hudson River polluters. In 1973, he entered private practice and joined the country’s oldest environmental law firm, (now) Sive, Paget & Riesel, P.C. He has taught environmental law and litigation at Cardozo and Columbia Law Schools for over a decade, and chairs the American Law Institute annual courses on environmental law and environmental litigation. Daniel is a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.

Larry Rothbart
Second term, expires October 2027
Ambassador Program Fundraising Page

Lawrence (Larry) Rothbart has lived in Brooklyn for over 40 years but is a lifelong New Yorker. He is a lawyer-mediator-collaborative Professional focused on Family Law issues. His first memory of the Clearwater was soon after it first sailed into New York harbor going to the old, gritty South Street as a child. He had to go through a hole in the fence for the sail.

Fast forward a bit. Larry became a member of Clearwater in his own right as a young adult when he returned to New York after college in Boston (where he worked on environmental issues including Seabrook). Once Larry had children, they came with him on Clearwater sails from the time they were babes in arms. They all were volunteers together on the boat for years. Eventually, they became “spare parts” especially when the boat was near New York Harbor or Pumpkin Sails.

Larry’s hope is to keep the focus on the boat as a vehicle to encourage environmental education, environment action, cultural and historical education, sailing experiences, music, and a little fun; throughout the length of the Hudson.

Sarah Underhill
Second term, expires October 2025
Ambassador Program Fundraising Page

Sarah Underhill’s love of the Hudson Valley began in the 1980s when she worked on the “Clearwater” as an environmental educator, activist, and sailor. A singer and song collector, her love of music and the arts combines with her dedication to community building. Sarah serves on the Town of Wawarsing’s Environmental Commission, and on the boards of Mohonk Consultations, the SeedSong Farm Center, the Rondout Creek Watershed Alliance, Ulster County Environmental Management Council, and Slow Food Hudson Valley. She has worked as an RN since 1998, and is a member of the Ethics Committee for Health Alliance Hospitals. Her Quaker heritage, with its emphasis on justice and mercy, informs her work.